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User blog:Tesseractcubed/Space Shuttle Reentry Concept/Prototype
'This is a user created idea and is not in the game as of 12/15/2017. Do not take this as anything more than an idea. Thanks, Tesseractcubed.' Space Shuttle Reentry Prototype View The largest issue I ( Tesseractcubed ) have tried to face was me not wanting to over-complicate the landing system, but still wanting to make landing the shuttle feel very rewarding. So, I have come to the conclusion, that the shuttle will a) use propellent only for the first half of landing, as it has the control surfaces of an airplane for the lower half of its descent, b) some buttons control toggle-able controls, such as landing gear and flaps, and c) buttons will continue to function if there is no fuel after you have entered the second half of the glide. Also, the control scheme will look very different from normal reentries, as the shuttle will have a/an *Runway alignment and distance indicator. (How far off center & distance from start of runway as a visual, no numbers) *Pitch indicator (Includes a suggested pitch indicator) *Speed indicator lights (colored, from left to right, red, green, green, red) *Roll left / Roll right buttons *Pitch up / Pitch down buttons *Flaps, landing gear, and speed brake toggle buttons *Glide slope indicators (4 white = high, 4 red = low, 2 and 2 = good to land) *Vertical Height indicator (Essentially the default indicater with a few extra lines for gauging distance) *Flare indicator (flashing light and words) The shuttle will have to be pointed nose down, towards the planet, and you will have to aim for a certain reentry point to line up with the runway. If you miss the reentry point, you will have to pilot the shuttle while reentering to line up with the runway (you will always start pointing the same rotational difference that you entered the atmosphere with). The shuttle is piloted with both pitch (forwards and backwards transition in space) and roll (spin) controls, and you have to keep the shuttle's pitch up (not sure how much) on the pitch indicator to prevent a loss of control. While you are doing that, you can still roll, and roll determines yaw, so if you roll slightly left, the shuttle should be turning slightly to the left on the Runway alignment and distance indicator. If you over roll, or mess up the pitch, you will burn up like every other capsule gone haywire. Once you reach the second half of your descent, you will need to push the pitch down to build airspeed, but not enough to reach the final red dot on the speed indicator or drop too low on the glide-slope indicator. To land, wait untill you reach the next to bottom bar. Start to pitch up to not hit the ground when the flare light goes off. Drop the gear and flaps by pressing the toggle, and coast in onto the runway. Once down, lower pitch slowly, then brake with the brake toggle. Wait until the speed lights all go white, then celebrate your success. Current design Pictures of design process- Sorry if they look a bit messy, I can't always get lighting right on pencil. IMG_20171214_153546415.jpg|Concept 1 (detailed view of top) IMG_20171214_153540259.jpg|Concept 1 IMG_20171215_173416551.jpg|Concept #2 Category:Blog posts